London -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Reports coming from Russia suggest that hundreds of people have been injured by a meteor falling from space . The force of the fireball , which seems to have crashed into a lake near the town of Chebarkul in the Ural Mountains , roared through the sky early on Friday morning local time , blowing out windows and damaging buildings . This comes on the same day that astronomers and news reporters alike were turning their attention to a 40 meter asteroid -- known as 2012 DA14 -- which is due for a close approach with Earth on Friday evening . The asteroid will skirt around our planet , however , missing by some 27,000 kilometers -LRB- 16,777 miles -RRB- . Based on early reports , there is no reason to believe the two events are connected .

Read more : Russian meteor injures hundreds

And yet it just goes to show how much space debris exists up there above our heads . It is easy to think of a serene solar system , with the eight planets quietly orbiting around the Sun and only a few moons for company . The reality is that we also share our cosmic neighborhood with millions of other , much smaller bodies : asteroids . Made of rock and metal , they range in size from a few meters across , up to the largest -- Ceres -- which is 1000 kilometers wide . They are left over rubble from the chaotic birth of our solar system around 5000 million years ago and , for the most part , are found in a `` belt '' between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter . But some are known to move away from this region , either due to collisions with other asteroids or the gravitational pull of a planet . And that can bring them into close proximity to the Earth .

Read more : Saving Earth from asteroids

Once a piece of space-rock enters our atmosphere , it becomes known as a meteor . Traveling through the sky at a few kilometers per second , friction with the air can cause the meteor to break up into several pieces . Eyewitnesses have described seeing a burst of light and hearing loud , thunderous noises . This , too , is due to the object tearing through the gases above our heads . If any of the fragments make it to the ground , only then are they called meteorites .

Such events are rare , but not unprecedented . An object entered Earth 's atmosphere in 1908 before breaking up over Siberia . The force of the explosion laid waste to a dense area of forest covering more than 2000 square kilometers . It is not hard to imagine the devastation of such an event over a more highly populated region . The Earth is sprinkled with around 170 craters also caused by debris falling from space . The largest is found near the town of Vredefort in South Africa . The impact of a much larger asteroid -- perhaps as big as 15 kilometers across -- is famously thought to have finished off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago .

Opinion : Do n't count ` doomsday asteroid ' out yet

It is easy to see why , then , that astronomers are keen to discover the position and trajectory of as many asteroids as possible . That way they can work out where they are heading and when , if at all , they might pose a threat to us on Earth . It is precisely this sort of work that led to the discovery of asteroid 2012 DA14 last February by a team of Spanish astronomers . However , today 's meteor strike shows that it is not currently possible to pick up everything .

A non-profit foundation , led by former NASA astronaut Ed Lu , wants to send a dedicated asteroid-hunting telescope into space that can scan the solar system for any potential threats . For now , astronomers will use Friday 's fly-by to bounce radar beams off 2012 DA14 's surface , hoping to learn more about its motion and structure . One day this information could be used to help move an asteroid out of an Earth-impacting orbit . This latest meteor over Russia just goes to show how important such work is and how crucial it is that we keep our eye on the sky .

Read more : NASA estimates 4,700 ` potentially hazardous ' asteroids

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Colin Stuart .

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Meteor explosion above Russia left hundreds of people injured

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Meteor came on day asteroid expected to pass 27,000 kilometers from Earth

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Earth is sprinkled with around 170 craters also caused by debris falling from space

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Stuart says unexpected meteor shows importance of monitoring space for potential threats